April 1, 2003
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
New York Times national religion correspondent and UCSB Regents’ Lecturer Gustav Niebuhr delivers public talk Religious Pluralism: America’s Continuing Challenge
Summary Facts:
- Gustav Niebuhr
- Award-winning journalist
- National religion correspondent for The New York Times
- Regents’ Lecturer in the UCSB Department of Religious Studies
- Religious Pluralism: America’s Continuing Challenge
- A free public lecture
- Thursday, May 8 / UCSB MultiCultural Center Theater / 4 pm
- For information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
Award-winning journalist Gustav Niebuhr, a Regents’ Lecturer in the UCSB Department of Religious Studies, will present the free public talk Religious Pluralism: America’s Continuing Challenge on Thursday, May 8 at 4 pm in the UCSB MultiCultural Center Theater.
Gustav Niebuhr believes that the most important development in current American religious life is the increasing visibility of smaller religious groups. In a recent interview he claimed, “There are more players at the table who represent important and historic long-term, religious faith groups. The presence of religious diversity isn’t an academic subject; it poses theological challenges. How does one as a believer relate to other believers from different faiths one isn’t familiar with?”
Niebuhr, a national correspondent for The New York Times since 1994, reports on trends in religion as well as breaking news throughout the United States. He writes a biweekly religion column for The Times and covers religion in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Before joining The Times staff, Niebuhr was a religious reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1986-89), The Wall Street Journal (1989-92) and The Washington Post (1992-94). A guest speaker at many academic institutions, he has taught courses on religion and the news media at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Niebuhr is the recipient of the Distinguished Writer’s Award of the Presbyterian Writers Guild, the Religious Freedom Award of the Associated Baptist Press, the Templeton Religion Writer of the Year Award and the Religious Newswriters Association Supple Award. A graduate of Pomona College with a master’s degree from Oxford University, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois in 1997.
Gustav Niebuhr comes from a family steeped in religious study. His great-grandfather was a minister; his father recently retired from Harvard Divinity School. Perhaps the Niebuhr name is most associated with his great-uncle Reinhold Niebuhr of Union Theologial Seminary and his grandfather H. Richard Niebuhr of Yale University, two ethics professors who are perhaps the most influential mid-century American theologians.
Niebuhr’s lecture is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Department of Religious Studies. His residency at UCSB is made possible by the Regents’ Lectureship program of the University of California. Instituted in 1962 to encourage rare and invaluable interaction between gifted non-academics and the university community, the program has continued to provide campus residencies in sponsoring departments for people with distinguished achievement in the arts, sciences, humanities, business, politics and international affairs.
Niebuhr is the last of three UCSB Regents’ Lecturers for the 2002-2003 academic year.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.